I'd pondered the idea of starting a women's creative group for some time.

Although I was active in a writers group, I was often finding that

writers weren't the only creators that were in need of camaraderie. There

seemed to be a pattern among the women I was meeting: Web designers who felt

stifled in a male-dominated business world; business consultants who were

scared to walk in to networking meetings by themselves; artists who spent

much of their time alone and with little outreach to other artists; fabric

designers who knew know one else with similar interests. You get the idea.

The concept was simple: bring together creative women in a free, open

forum twice per month. I discussed the idea with a friend and we brainstormed

1. To avoid any form of "dictatorship," the group would rotate leaders.

2. Each meeting would also offer a creative exercise, lead by one of the

women, that would cross the boundaries of creativity; setting goals, breaking

down creative barriers, personality tests, free writing - anything that would

3. The remaining time would be spent "checking in" - basically, talking

about our creative accomplishment, blocks, and current needs. It was only

We decided that the group would be called Just CAWS (Creative Alliance of

Women's Support), as the acronym also represented the four things we hoped to get from the group: Creativity, Accountability, Work leads, and Support.

We held the first meeting in November of 1999 in a local restaurant. It

was less than spectacular. When we arrived, our room was being used, despite two calls to ensure its availability. A group of about 17 waited in the lobby for nearly 20 minutes until tables were pushed together to form a long

rectangle - right in front of the open kitchen. Hardly conducive to

We spent most of the evening introducing ourselves (over the clamming of

pots and pans) and discussing what we wanted to get out of the group. At the

end of the two hours, we bid goodbye and headed our separate ways.

I expected that the meeting would be our last.

We held the second meeting in a private room in a coffee shop. The room

was full. Although not all of the women from the first meeting returned, word

I had created an "accountability sheet" - a one-page checklist of 10

items that the women could fill in according to their creative needs. The

very first line read, "I am a ___________." The idea was to fill in the blank

with the appropriate word - writer, artist, painter, etc. - in hopes of

claiming our creativity and putting an end to the often-uttered, "I wanna be

The plan worked. The accountability sheet went on to ask specific trigger

questions and set goals for each woman's individual needs:

"This week I will sit down to _____________."

By the next meeting, many of the women were able to not only set creative

By sheer word of mouth, our group had grown to more than 25 from the

first meeting and within a few months we had outgrown our space at the coffee

We managed to get a larger private room at Barnes and Noble, who even

allowed us to bring our own coffee pot and pastries, which was important to

me, as I knew that many of the women would not be able to afford the $4

They listed us in the bookstore's monthly newsletter and with our own

regular newsletters and word-of-mouth invitations to other creative women,

the group grew to more than 120 members in just more than a year.

Today, Just CAWS continues to meet two Sunday per month for two hours. We

have a different creative exercise at every meeting, and average around 20

women each Sunday. We welcome a new member at almost every meeting and there are still no dues or fees of any type.

We have shared in each other's joys, sorrows, successes, and searches for

creative expression. The networking has found women jobs, opportunities,

financial assistance, mentors, partnerships, and friendships, and most

importantly, it's created a safe place to bring women of all creative

interests together for the purpose of empowerment and support.

Most of us leave the meetings feeling loved, supported, and energized and

I'm sure I can speak for many of the members when I say that missing a

meeting leaves you feeling a creative void for the next two weeks. It's